The Years Before
by PumpkinSparks8616
Summary: This is the story before the story. The love story of James and Lily Potter is well known throughout the wizarding world. Their love for each other and their family will go down in history. But there was a forgotten love blossoming at the same time. A love just as strong, but with so many more hardships. This is the story of Remus Lupin and Sirius Black


_Chapter One – Letters_

Dorea Potter smiled as she heard the crash come from above her. Her husband Harold just rolled his eyes and sighed.

"That boy is going to put his eye out one of these days." He grumbled as there was a loud thudding from the direction of the stairs.

"Mum! Why didn't you wake me!?" A bespeckled boy with perpetually messy hair stumbled into the kitchen glaring at his parents as he began searching through the cupboards. "Is it here? Is it?"

"Do you really think I'd hide it in with the sugar?" Dorea laughed and James turned to her exasperatedly. "And I didn't wake you because you were up all night and were probably exhausted."

"I was only up because I didn't want to miss it coming! Where is it? Where is it!?" James asked bouncing up and down on the spot.

"It hasn't come yet." Harold finally put his son out of his misery and James pouted.

"Why not! I thought it comes in the morning?" He whined.

"Yes, and it's only half past eight. It'll come don't worry. Now sit down and have some breakfast." Dorea smiled and James sighed loudly before throwing himself down into one of the kitchen chairs.

She had barely managed to put a plate of bacon and eggs in front of him before there was a tapping at the window and he was up on his feet again. In the blink of an eye the youngest Potter had opened the window and was tearing a letter of a rather bedraggled looking owl. James tore into the thick envelope and began to pore over it.

"Well?" Harold asked dryly. "Are you officially invited?"

"Yes!" James chirped throwing himself down at the table and digging into his food happily. "They are pleased to inform me that I have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Good." Harold smiled unfolding his paper with a snap.

"…Good? That's all you can say? Good?" James demanded and Dorea looked down at her porridge trying to keep a straight face.

"Well, it's not as though we didn't know you'd be going. You do remember turning your mother's prized roses into mice don't you?" Harold asked dryly and James pouted.

"Oh Harold, just let the boy have it already." Dorea laughed.

"Have it? Have what?" James was back to bouncing up and down on his seat.

"Oh alright." Harold chuckled pulling his wand from his sleeve and waving it with a flourish.

There was a clatter as a cage suddenly dropped onto the table upsetting the plates and glasses. The owl within the cage hooted and shuffled her feathers looking quite annoyed. James' mouth dropped open and he pulled the cage closer to him, she was an eagle owl and quite lovely.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" James chanted.

* * *

Sirius sighed staring up at his bedroom ceiling; he had been confined to his room for hexing his cousin Bellatrix. It wasn't his fault that she was such a bitch, he thought sullenly as he spun a quill between his fingers. He was distracted by a loud tapping coming from his window. He frowned and twisted to face it, his eyes widening as he took in the barn owl hovering there.

He was on his feet in moments, the owl hopped through onto his shoulder holding out its leg patiently. Sirius took the parchment with shaking fingers and unravelled it slowly. It was the letter he had been waiting all summer for, not because he was worried it wouldn't come, on the contrary he had been certain it would. This letter meant his freedom, he could finally get away from this rotten house, away from his mother and father and his ghastly cousins.

He did feel slightly bad about leaving Regulus to fend for himself but his brother would be joining him next year, and his parents liked Reg better anyway.

The barn owl hooted and clipped his ear; he chuckled and reached for the slightly stale stash of biscuits under his bed. After it was fed and happy it flew off and Sirius sighed laying back down on his bed. Only a few months to go now.

"Sirius! You ungrateful brat! Get down here and apologise to your cousin before she leaves!" His mother's shrill voice rang through the house and he glared at the ceiling refusing to move despite the fact that he knew he'd be punished for it later. He wouldn't let his mother ruin the one moment of happiness he'd had all summer.

* * *

"Peter it's here!" Peter jumped looking up from his porridge in surprise.

"What?" He squeaked.

"It's here! Oh thank Merlin! It's here!" His mother was practically dancing around the kitchen while Peter just stared dumbly at the owl sitting on the windowsill. He honestly couldn't believe his eyes. A Hogwarts letter for him, when he hadn't even shown any aptitude for magic. He had tried – Merlin had he tried – but he hadn't even managed to make a teaspoon twitch.

"A letter?" He whispered before a wide smile spread across his face and he joined his mother in dancing about the kitchen. This time chanting; "I'm going to _Hogwarts_! _I'm_ going to Hogwarts! I'm _going_ to Hogwarts!"

* * *

Lily looked up in surprise as the doorbell rang, who on Earth could be calling at eight o'clock on a Sunday morning. She shared a glance with Petunia who shrugged and they both hid at the top of the stairs watching as their mother went to open the door.

"Oh Goodness!" Their mother exclaimed and Lily could certainly understand why, there at the door was a woman who could have stepped out of an eighteenth century painting. She was relatively attractive for an older woman with greying black hair and a stern face; she was dressed in a long green robe like dress.

"Hello Mrs Evans, I'm sorry for the imposition but I was wondering if I might come in for a moment." The woman obviously didn't ask it as a question as, without waiting for a reply she stepped across the threshold. "I assume the living room is this way? Ah yes."

Lily and Petunia snuck down the stairs and hid behind the door watching as the woman settled herself in the armchair by the fire.

"Um, excuse me, but what are you doing here?" Mrs Evans asked bewildered.

"I am here about your daughter Lily." Lily couldn't help the gasp that escaped her and the woman's eyes were drawn to the door, when she saw the two girls she smiled and beckoned them in. Lily slowly walked into the room but Petunia ran back upstairs.

"Look, I don't know who you are or what you think you're doing-"

"Oh forgive me! My name is Minerva McGonagall, I'm a professor who is here to ask about enrolling Lily at my school." Lily's mother clearly thought the woman was insane but Lily's mouth had dropped open in shock. Could it be…?

"Do you mean Hogwarts?" She whispered and McGonagall's eyes widened in surprise.

"Yes my dear, how did you know that?" She asked.

"My friend… Severus. He said we'd be going together." Lily said quietly and she heard the hiss of air at her mother's intake of breath. Mrs Evans had always been fond of the little bedraggled boy that Lily brought home to dinner more often than not, she felt so bad for the child living with a father like that awful Tobias Snape. When he came over she always made sure to feed him plenty and always sent him home with more food than he could eat.

"Lily what are you talking about? Have you sent off a letter to this school asking to go? You know we can't afford anything like a boarding school. You're going to Stonwall with Pet." Mrs Evans said.

"Mrs Evans you might want to sit down." McGonagall said and she proceeded to tell Mrs Evans everything that Lily had learnt from Severus. Lily meanwhile could hardly believe her ears, she had known about her magic and Severus' for a while now, but hearing an adult confirm it was something else.

"This is insane! A child's fantasy!" Mrs Evans exclaimed jumping to her feet. "I'd like you to leave!"

"Mrs Evans, I can prove it." McGonagall said calmly, Lily supposed this was a common reaction of muggle parents.

"Look, I don't want you to do any 'magic tricks' or whatever hoax you're thinking of- AAAHH!" Mrs Evans let out a shriek as suddenly McGonagall was gone, and in her place sat a tabby cat with markings around its eyes that looked remarkably like Professor McGonagall's. In moments the cat was gone again and the professor was back in the armchair. Meanwhile, Mrs Evans had gone extremely pale and Lily grasped her mother's shoulder carefully in case she should fall over.

"Magic… it's real." She said, almost to herself.

"Yes."

"And Lily's magic?" She asked her hand reaching up to clutch Lily's tightly, Lily squeezed back gently trying to reassure her mother.

"Yes."

"And she needs to go to this school, this Hogwash place to learn more magic?" McGonagall smiled kindly.

"It's Hogwarts, but yes." She said, "If you are worried about money you really shouldn't be. All tuition is free and all you will need to buy is the uniform and some supplies, all of which are found in London where you can exchange your money. If you wish, an escort can be arranged to show you where you can buy them. It's actually advised, some muggles, that is, non-magical people, find it quite difficult to locate the street where they are sold."

"Oh. Okay…" Mrs Evans whispered weakly.

"Lily, perhaps a cup of tea would help settle your mother's nerves?" McGonagall asked and Lily nodded rushing from the room to put the kettle on. She couldn't help the grin that spread across her face. She really was a witch. She would learn magic. She and Severus would be allowed to go to school together. It seemed that everything was perfect.

* * *

Remus groaned as he woke, he felt as if he had broken both arms and legs, his chest hurt when he breathed, and his head was pounding so fiercely that he knew if he tried to move he would most definitely throw up. Sadly, this was not an uncommon feeling. In fact, Remus felt like this once a month. Actually, this was one of the better months, while everything was aching severely he did not think there were any particularly large wounds, maybe a few deep grazes on his left arm, but his father would disinfect and wrap them as soon as he came down to the basement.

"Remy love?" There was a soft knock on the door and he forced his eyes open. The basement was in tatters, with long claw marks practically everywhere in sight. He sighed and turned his attention to the door which was slowly creaking open. His mother's, eyes had long stopped filling with tears but her expression was just as painful without them.

"I'm okay Mum, it's not that bad this month." He croaked quietly. Hope crossed the room quickly and began checking his body, she was extremely careful with his left arm but nothing else seemed wrong. "Can I have a drink please?"

"Oh Remy of course, I'll be right back okay?" Remus nodded and closed his eyes as she left. They shot open when he heard yelling from up the stairs, he tried to push himself up but his head swam and he fell back against the floor. There was a loud bang and he jumped causing pain to be set off throughout his body. He frowned trying to hear anything else but couldn't.

"Mum?" He called but there was no answer. "Dad?"

Just as he was debating to try moving again he heard footsteps on the basement stairs, but he froze as he heard an extra pair. The door opened and his parents entered, followed by a tall thin man with a long white beard. Remus flinched and tried to cover himself. He had long stopped being embarrassed about nudity with his parents when it was essential but strangers were another matter. His father seemed to realise what he was trying to do because he summoned a large blanket and quickly wrapped it around his son, before summoning some bandages which he tied tightly with practised ease around Remus' arm.

"Who's that Dad?" He whispered, his Dad didn't smell of fear and he didn't look particularly angry, in fact, if Remus had to guess, he would say his father almost looked… pleased.

"Remus, this is Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts." Remus' eyes widened and he tried to shift backwards from the man but his injuries and father held him still.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Remus." Dumbledore said walking further into the room. "There's no need for concern. I am here about your education."

"It's okay; you didn't have to come all this way. I know I'm not allowed to go to school." Remus said bewildered at the man's presence. It seemed particularly cruel to come in person to tell him that he wasn't allowed to Hogwarts.

"Ah, it seems you are mistaken my boy. I am not here to refuse you entrance to the school. I am in fact, here to offer it to you." Remus' eyes widened when Dumbledore extended a hand within which was something Remus had only ever dreamed about. He had found his Father's letter in amongst a stack of old papers in the attic once and he couldn't believe he was getting his own. It was something he had long since resigned himself to and he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Remus?" His father asked slowly but Remus was too busy staring at the letter to hear. "Remus did you hear?"

"…I-I get to go to Hogwarts?" He whispered and Dumbledore nodded grinning.

"There are preparations being put in place for your arrival as we speak. A safe location with all the possible protection spells being added, and a disguise for the place itself. You will be treated by the school nurse, a new witch hired this year, lovely woman, a Madam Pomfrey. And of course most important of all you will not be allowed to tell anyone of your condition, for your own good I'm afraid, some people can be terribly prejudiced nowadays, and I would hate for your education to be cut short due to the short-sightedness of others." Remus nodded, he would do anything to go. "Now, am I correct in assuming you wish to come to Hogwarts?"

"Yes. Yes please sir!" He cried excitedly, he tried to reach out and grab the letter but winced at the pain it caused.

"Perhaps I should leave this with your mother. You will be able to read it when you feel better." Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling. "Now I must be off. I will see you soon I am sure Mr Lupin. Mrs Lupin."

With a nod of his head he disappeared back up the stairs.

Remus felt his eyes fill with tears. He was going to Hogwarts. He was _allowed _to go to Hogwarts. He had the _Headmaster's_ permission to go to Hogwarts. He didn't even feel ashamed in the slightest when he started to sob with happiness. Especially when his mother soon joined him, and he could see the shining wetness of his father's eyes.

* * *

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